Monday, October 3, 2011

Willers Miniatures

I received a package today from Toys and More by Winterkamp in Germany. The package included two sets by Willers Miniatures, which I ordered to do a figure comparison with other 1/72 scale miniatures.

The first set is the Mongolen Köpfungsszene (Mongol beheading scene) set (WiFi-001) consisting of four foot, and two mounted figures. The figures display nice proportions, and are cast in a very soft metal. The thinner pieces like the spear shaft, and sword blade can be bent at the slightest touch, yet seem to be more resistant to snapping because of this. All the same, I think these figures are probably more suited for diorama purposes than wargaming. The last figure is of a prisoner being beheaded, and it seems to look rather familiar... I only took pictures of the foot figures for this post, but the mounted figures are of similar proportions.

In the next image are a pair of Willers Mongols, flanked by a Giant Mongol (in yellow) and a Zvezda mongol (in red-brown). As far as size is concerned, these figures are perfectly compatible with each other.

The set also comes with a camel, which is shown next to a camel from the Italeri Mongol Cavalry set. While I believe the Italeri camel is undersized, the Willers camel is probably very much over-sized. Various sources state that the Bactrian camel can reach the size of the one modeled by the Willers camel, but all of the actual photographs that I have seen of camels in the Gobi Desert show them the same as, or only slightly taller than a standing person.

The Song dynasty painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival shows the relative size of a Bactrian camel to a person. I would definitely say that these camels are nowhere as big as the Willers camel.

Detail from Along the River During the Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan

The next set is the Samurai Kampfmönche (warrior monk) set (WiFi-002) consisting of five warrior monks and various bits and pieces (including separate arms for one of the figures). Most of the monks are dressed in heavy clothing, making them appear quite hefty. They are cast in the same soft metal as the Mongols, so again are probably better suited for diorama purposes. The set does not come with any instructions or images of the assembled figures, so it's up to the buyer to figure out how to put everything together.